Half of workers in Sabah estate found working illegally in pilot data-gathering scheme

KOTA KINABALU, June 2 — A pilot project for the digital data collection of foreigners in Sabah has found that at least half of the workers employed were “not legitimate,” Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan said.

He that the pilot project was done at the state-owned Sawit Kinabalu estate involving almost 15,000 respondents.

“Both the employers and the workers were cooperative, and we took their data and biometrics. About half of them were legal, while others, and their dependents, were not,” he said.

He declined to say whether there would be action taken as the exercise was to gather information and data for the purpose of policy mapping and future plans.

Authorities such as the immigration and police were not involved in the process in order to facilitate voluntary participation.

“Our duty here is to collect data. We need their cooperation to make this work,” he said, adding that other stakeholders will likely get involved at a much later stage.

The wider project covers different segments of the economy like plantation, construction, and services, and will also go to squatter areas and islands.

“We have to train the members of these teams and we need resources and manpower to get maximum impact,” he said, adding that one of the challenges faced was getting foreigners to come voluntarily.

“Once we have the data, we will know how many there are here and what’s the next step. We can know how many locals and non-locals work in the various industries across the state and we will be able to regulate the foreign population in the state,” he said.